Create Drill-Through Reports

• Mar 11, 2024
• 3 minutes to read

Follow this tutorial to create a drill-through report (a user can click a Category entry to invoke a detail report with Products). This report type keeps the original report compact while still allowing access to more detailed information.

The tutorial involves two main steps:

• Add a master-detail relationship between “Categories” and “Products” reports within one project.
• Use detail report parameters to filter records based on the selected category.

Prerequisites

This tutorial is based on the reports used in the examples below. To complete the tutorial you need to download the project from one the following examples:

View Example: WinForms Reporting

View Example: Web Reporting

Add a Master-Detail Relationship between Reports

Define a master-detail relationship between Category and Product reports within a single project:

• Select the XRTableCell element in the main report (XtraReportCategories.cs)
• Set its Action property to NavigateToReportAction
• Assign the NavigateToReportAction.ReportSource property to a detail report instance (XtraReportProducts.cs)

If you switch to Preview, you can click on a Category value in the table. The Preview window navigates to the detail report that contains all Product entries. The next step explains how to filter this list.

A Breadcrumb control automatically appears below the Document Viewer toolbar and allows you to navigate back to the original report.

Specify Parameter Binding to Display Required Data

You can specify parameters during detail report navigation. Use the NavigateToReportAction.ParameterBindings property to limit displayed records (such as products) to a selected category.

To invoke the Parameter Binding Collection Editor, click the ellipsis button in the Parameter Bindings property. Within this editor, click the Sync button to automatically obtain detail report parameters and set Binding to the data field or parameter of the original report.

Set Binding to the CategoryID field.

Set the following filter string in the detail report to display product records for the selected category.

Result

Switch to Preview and click on a category entry in the master report. The Preview navigates to the detail report that displays only products related to the selected category.

Implement Drill-Down Report at Runtime

The following code snippet shows how to accomplish the same scenario in code:

C#

using DevExpress.XtraReports.Interactivity;
using DevExpress.XtraReports.UI;

namespace Drill_through_example {
    public partial class XtraReportCategories : DevExpress.XtraReports.UI.XtraReport {
        public XtraReportCategories(){
            InitializeComponent();

            // Create a NavigateToReportAction instance and specify its settings
            NavigateToReportAction cellAction = new NavigateToReportAction();
            cellAction.ReportSource = new XtraReportProducts();
            cellAction.ParameterBindings.Add(new ParameterBinding(parameterName: "categoryId",
                sqlDataSource1, "Categories.CategoryID"));

            // Assign the NavigateToReportAction object to the control’s Action property
            tableCell6.Action = cellAction;

        }
    }

    public partial class XtraReportProducts : DevExpress.XtraReports.UI.XtraReport {
        public XtraReportProducts(){
            InitializeComponent();
            FilterString = "[CategoryID] = ?categoryId";
        }
    }
}

VB.NET

Imports DevExpress.XtraReports.Interactivity
Imports DevExpress.XtraReports.UI

Namespace Drill_through_example
    Partial Public Class XtraReportCategories
        Inherits DevExpress.XtraReports.UI.XtraReport

        Public Sub New()
            InitializeComponent()

            ' Create a NavigateToReportAction instance and specify its settings
            Dim cellAction As New NavigateToReportAction()
            cellAction.ReportSource = New XtraReportProducts()
            cellAction.ParameterBindings.Add(New ParameterBinding(parameterName:= "categoryId", sqlDataSource1, "Categories.CategoryID"))

            ' Assign the NavigateToReportAction object to the control’s Action property
            tableCell6.Action = cellAction

        End Sub
    End Class

    Partial Public Class XtraReportProducts
        Inherits DevExpress.XtraReports.UI.XtraReport

        Public Sub New()
            InitializeComponent()
            FilterString = "[CategoryID] = ?categoryId"
        End Sub
    End Class
End Namespace